Gutierrez defeats Vasquez

Story and photos by Felipe Leon

Mayen Promotions, the most active Tijuana club show promoter of the year, closed out his year with an action packed card which saw a former world title challenger get back on track and a couple of rookies suffer their first loss in mind upsets. Held at the Las Pulgas night club in the heart of Tijuana’s downtown, the fight card was in association with Zanfer Promotions and will be broadcast on Azteca America at a later time. In the main event, former interim super featherweight WBC champion Humberto “Betillo” Gutierrez (29-4-2, 21KOs) finally beat the Jose Luis “Pepe El Toro” Vazquez (3-3, 3KOs) of Tijuana in the fifth round of a scheduled welterweight eight round bout.

Gutierrez, who has gone through a rough patch losing three of his last six with a draw and only two losses, had trouble with the scale for this bout coming in a pound over weight and did not bother to try to drop it. In ’09 Gutierrez challenged Takahiro Ao for the WBC 130 lbs. full-fledged title but was beat by the fourth round. In his last bout, Gutierrez dropped a majority decision to Mexicali tank Armando “Chato” Robles two months ago.

Being a natural 130 pounder, Gutierrez looked lethargic in the first round because of the added weight but Vazquez was even more hesitant. For most of the three minutes both fighters were content in circling each other and only throwing sporadic range finding jabs. The slow pace continued in the second but the southpaw Gutierrez of Tijuana by way of Los Mochis, MX, did begin to let his hands go a bit more focusing on the body more than the head. The body attack continued for the next rounds with “Betillo” adding hard uppercuts to his arsenal that ripped through Vazquez’s defense. Vazquez tried to keep up with Gutierrez in the offense department but he looked more like he was trying to survive than to win. In the fifth Gutierrez had enough and went after Vazquez with measured aggression and convinced referee Juan Jose Ramirez to protect Vazquez and stop the fight at the 1:52 mark of the round.

Enriquez Pleases Crowd

Tijuana female flyweight Kenia “Jaguarcita” Enríquez (4-0, 2KOs) is the latest craze to catch the local boxing fans’ imagination and she did not disappoint this night when she completely dominated amateur foe Brenda Flores (1-1) for four rounds, both of Tijuana. No strangers to each other, they faced each other in the amateurs four times splitting wins but prior to the bout Enriquez vowed that in the pros she would come out victorious.

She did not lie.

Despite Flores being game, Enriquez was just too much as she controlled every minute of the fight, punishing Flores to the body and in the last round going for the kill with hard over hand rights to the chin but to no avail since Flores was able to survive. Flores had her best round in the third when she made it somewhat uncomfortable for Enriquez by clinching and scoring once or twice to the body but it was not nearly enough to deter the Tijuana favorite.

Enriquez, who is a junior in high school, took all three judges’ scorecards with Alejandro Rochin and Jesus Gonzalez giving her all the rounds with a 40-36 and Carlos Flores seeing it 39-37.

Agaton and Garcia Split Heads

Mexico City welterweight southpaw Ramses “Faraon” Agaton (10-1-1, 6KOS), who was Juan Manuel Marquez’s chief sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao, had a tough four minutes against Guillermo Garcia (6-6-1, 1KO) of Tijuana by way of Durango. Mid-way through the first round an accidental head butt caused a severe cut over the right eye of Agaton. Agaton kept fighting on and looked the better of the two as he scored jabs to the body of Garcia followed by punches to the head. At the start of the second they clashed heads again and both walked away with a cut in the center of the forehead. As both fighters were checked by the ringside physicians, it was decided to stop the bout and deeming it a technical draw. Official time of the halt was :59 of the second round.

The bout was scheduled for eight rounds.

Other Results:

In a slight upset, Brandon “Gladiator” Adams traveled from Los Angeles, CA, to spoil the party for Edgar “Roca” Bojorquez of Tijuana by stopping him in the second round of a scheduled four. Adams (9-0, 5KOs) seemed hesitant as Bojorquez (4-4-3, 2KOs) looked as the more active but did enough to land a right that wobbled Bojorquez enough to make him touch his glove to the canvas. In the second Adams landed an uppercut followed by a tow hooks from both fists that dropped Bojorquez for the ten count administered by referee Christian Curiel. Official time was 1:53.

Christian Renteria (0-1) was defeated in his first pro fight by Jose Pech (1-2), both of Tijuana, in a featherweight four round. Despite his losing record, Pech looked the more seasoned of the two and dropped the southpaw Renteria with a lead right in the first as he never allowed Renteria to establish an offense throughout the fight. Judges Diana De La Mora and Esteban Franco scored it 39-36 while Jocelyne Ortiz saw it 40-35 for Renteria.

Middleweight Jose “Bolivita” Uzcategui (16-0, 13KOs) scored yet another stoppage against a clearly over matched opponent in Gilberto Flores Hernandez (21-13, 16KOs) of Hidalgo. Despite Flores Hernandez’s winning record, it was obvious that he did not belong anywhere near the technical Uzcategui of Tijuana by way of Venezuela forced the TKO with a barrage of punches after hurting Flores Hernandez with a body shot. Official time was :32 of the first.

In another upset, first timer Jose Arteaga (1-0) easily defeated Tijuana fan favorite Pastor Elenes (3-1, 1KO) with a unanimous decision. Arteaga also of Tijuana was the busier of the two as Elenes reacted to his opponent’s offense instead of establishing his. In the third and fourth Elenes pushed the action with a body attack but it was just not enough as judge Jesus Gonzalez saw it 40-36 while Sergio Lechuga scored it 39-37 and Carlos Flores a close 38-38, all for Arteaga.

Tijuana super featherweight Erick Martinez (1-1, 1KO) earned his first pro win by stopping Jose “Rata” Caravantes (0-5-1) who is still in search of his first win. Martinez scored a hard right hand in the second that sent Caravantes, both of Tijuana, down for the second time when it forced Christian Curiel to halt the action. Official time was 2:08 of the second of a scheduled four.

In a back and forth four round featherweight battle, Rafael Rivera (3-0-2, 2KOs) and Juan “Pitufo” Gomez (2-4-1, 1KO) fought to a majority draw. Judges Jesus Gonzalez and Carlos Flores had it 38-38 while Sergio Lechuga scored it 39-37 for Gomez.

Southpaw lightweight Daniel “Huracan” Ramirez (4-0, 3KOs) remained undefeated with a body shot to the liver of Jesus Montenegro (0-6), both of Tijuana, at 1:36 of the first round of a scheduled four.